Reserve Citizen Airmen train year-round to ensure they are always Ready Now, but the training usually ramps up in the summer when thousands of Reservists take part in large-scale readiness exercises. 2023 was no different as Citizen Airmen sharpened their skills in a host of exercises, including Resolute Sentinel, Patriot Fury, Mobility Guardian and Northern Edge, over the summer months. The Reserve’s large-scale medical readiness exercise, Patriot Medic, was scheduled to take place in August.

This year marked the first time the Reserve-led Patriot Fury exercise was incorporated into Resolute Sentinel – the 12^th Air Force-led U.S. Southern Command field training exercise conducted in South America. The combined exercises focused on combat training and civil-military operations conducted in an austere environment to increase force readiness, improve interoperability, strengthen partnerships, counter malign influences and assure regional partners. Resolute Sentinel evolved from the longstanding New Horizons and Beyond the Horizons annual joint humanitarian assistance exercises in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Resolute Sentinel is ideally suited for a wing like the 919th Special Operations Wing,” said Lt. Col. Brian Daniels, 859th Special Operations Squadron commander. The 919^th SOW was one of numerous Reserve wings that participated in Resolute Sentinel and Patriot Fury. “We have over 30 members from the 919th SOW in Peru supporting special operations spanning multiple information domains. The 919th SOW have been persistently engaged with operations in the region for over eight years. Our Citizen Airmen have the experience and relationships to seamlessly integrate into an exercise like this with our joint partners, because it is what we do every day operationally.”

Mobility Guardian 23 was the largest full-spectrum readiness exercise in Air Mobility Command history. It saw more than 15,000 U.S. and international global forces conducting simultaneous exercises across the Indo-Pacific region.

“The success of the joint force requires a capable and integrated mobility Air Force that has the ability to rapidly deploy and employ in contested, degraded and operationally limited environments,” said Maj. Gen. Darren Cole, MG23 exercise director. “Through MG23, we have the opportunity to become a more tightly integrated force, refining how we all operate, making our mission one and the same. MG23 is building the readiness of the most relied upon maneuver force.”

Northern Edge is a U.S. joint field training exercise sponsored by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and led by Headquarters Pacific Air Forces. It is conducted in an around Alaska.

Thousands of participants from the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Army, including Reserve and National Guard units, were involved.